California Burning…

Fires are part of nature and occur with regularity around the globe. Climatologists predict that climate change will either create more severe droughts, heat waves, and wildfires, or they will be more widespread. But this recent satellite image is incredible: over 800 wildfires in Northern California alone! What would have been a clear blue summer day in San Francisco was obscured by a haze of smoke.

NOAA continually makes near term predictions. This summer, they predict that the severe southeastern drought will get somewhat better, but we here in California will see our drought worsen. Therefore, we expect more heat waves inland (and more fog in San Francisco!), and more wildfires.

Responses

Wow! Woke up this morning and looked off the front deck and saw….not very much. The smell of smoke permeated the air and it was very hazy. We in the East Bay are getting the smoke from the wildfires in Napa and Solano counties. Even though it is finally summer, fire season is just beginning. Fire is frightening. We can only hope that people will be conserving water and consider plantings that require less water. The EBMUD book, Plants and Landscapes for Summer and Dry Climates, is a beautiful and informative way to plan gardens.
A great gift idea!!

We expect fire season to be extended via climate change. This is a link to the image in the blog post (which you can explore in more detail by clicking on it and zooming around). It is from monday June 23rd. I’ll update the blog as soon as new imagery comes in.